Message Boards

Topic : 09/21 Cult Confrontations

Number of Replies: 98

New Messages This Week: 0

Last Reply On:

Created on : Friday, September 15, 2006, 12:03:46 pm

Author : DrPhilBoard1

Imagine growing up in a free society, but being forced to live in isolation without money, TV, cars, or contact with your family. That’s what Dr. Phil’s guests say happened to them in a religious sect known as the Aggressive Christianity Mission Training Corps. Maura brought her daughter, Rebekah, with her to the sect when Rebekah was 12. The mother and daughter say members of the cult abuse children and belittle adults who question authority. How can they move on with their lives? Then, Paula says her daughter, Stacy, cut her off when she joined the Aggressive Christianity Mission Training Corps. Paula hasn’t seen Stacy in 10 years, and maintains that her daughter was brainwashed and emotionally kidnapped. Find out what happens when Dr. Phil sends Paula to the compound with a private investigator to find Stacy. Then, Fawn B. and her friend, Fawn H., had recently escaped a polygamist cult and were having trouble adjusting to their new life. Fawn B. has been excelling in school, but the other Fawn dropped out, ran away and has experimented with sex, drugs and alcohol. Can the troubled teen turn her life around? Join the discussion.

As of January, 2009, this message board will become "Read Only" and will be closed to further posting. Please join the NEW Dr. Phil Community to continue your discussions, personalize your message board experience, start a blog and meet new friends.

why

why in 21 century you still have this problem. Why clearwater of Florida is a main church of Scientology. Maby you can have a program on this cult without a fear of the revange. i would love to have some kind of confirmation, about their job. Why are their functioning in 21 century, why the governmant don't do anything about it. people are dying in the result of th cult doing, why the governant is scared???? 10 years ago i had a customer who joined the cult. He had a collage degree i chemistry, yet he worked for the cult as a driver. how ca you explaind it?

i may be reacting wrong by your program, but where is FBI??

how is possible that the Children of God existed for so long. What is wrong with the system???

MY STACEY

This story really hits home. My daughter Stacey has been gone over a year and the first thing I thought of was the cult. Please tell me what steps I need to take. There are no PI's available in my area. I feel like my hands are tied.

You dont need to go to church to find God

Not everyone agrees that to be a Christian that you need to go to church. Believing in God and his son Jesus is what religion is all about. God is all around us. You can see his works everywhere. People treating each other with kindness and respect. Saying hello and giving a hand to a stranger. Look at the stars, sunrise, sunset, blue skies, rain, animals and on and on and on. I go to church personally to receive the holy eucharist and to hear bible verses and people who want to help others. Yes churches can have devastating effects if you arent careful and fall into the hands of certain ones that I would definityely call a cult. But most chiurches can be considered as Social Clubs where you get together in God's name. I greeew up going to church until I reached my teen years, then felt I knew enough to not need the church anymore. Well, I found out how wrong I was. I turned to alcohol drugs and sex and lived a life what I would consider certainly not in the best interest for me or my fammmily. Since I returned to church and let God back into my life, my whole demeanour has changed. I feel more loved and and show much more respect and love and kindness to others and live a good healthy life which is what God wants for us all. To each their own as to whether they want to go to church or not. But I believe that when you leave it is easy to fall back into your old ways and you will pay the price. I believe everyone is entitled to beliefs. This is mine. Thank you, northern angel

09/21 Cult Confrontations

Hi Dr. Phil

Can you telll me how is it possible that this cults are still existing in 21 century. Why nobody is listening to the crying people. Try to touch Scientalogy cult. Are you scare? Why the government don't have any influance?

Hi Billyjo...

I too am a survivor of a cult. and it is not easy getting away from them. its taking me 38 yrs of my life , I am 38 yrs old, I was kidnapped after I was born. the cult members gave me something that made my parents and Doctor beleive i was dead, untill I turned up in a Billings Hospital with the leg band still my ankle , it has been a long journey and i wish this on no one. I have had to run away myself, had all my children takin away, and to learn who took them was the very people involved in the cult, these people are Socail workers, doctors, professional , to housewives, to get enough garbage on this group. finally it is being investigated by the Montana FBI. there is still along ways to go I have learned my true Identity. I know I can not be the only one with this problem if you would like to hear more of my story I would like to share it however I am not sure how much I can share at the moment. I have had death threats. constant harrassment from the members involved. at the moment Iam in my apartment as it is the safest place for me. The CULT in Montana have never been procucuded for any of their crimes.

crimes range from Murder to child porn and the list goes on

Billyjo from Montana

You can contact Dr. Phil via e-mail clicking Contact Dr. Phil above or at bottom of webpage or searching for first link below or mail snail mail. Congratulations on escaping cult and best of luck to you Billyjo.

let me clarify...

I am not upset with the people who were dragged into cults as children or born into them. I understand why they are there, they don't anything different. Whe I say I want to slap people, I mean the older people who have cognitive thinking skills, supposedly. What the hell are you people thinking?

Help for getting out of cults

I was in a cultish church for almost 30 years and totally relate to the show. My experience wasn't as extreme as what was portrayed today, but still damaging. Dr Phil mentioned Meadowhaven in Middleboro Massachusetts run by Bob & Judy Pardon. They are helping me heal and understand the pain and abuse my husband I went though. You need to be aware that cults are sneaky. They know how to make their group look warm and loving, but ultimately is destructive and sick. I highly recommend Meadowhaven to anyone coming out of an abusive church. Bob & Judy have been helping people for many years and are highly trained and caring.

For Dawn H of Colorado City

Hi Dawn,

Just wanted to tell you that you need to get your college scholarship, too! And, do it now! I'm serious about this. Your story makes me very sad, but also angry at the States of Arizona and especially Utah for not protecting its children. The governments of these states have known for decades what's happening in Colorado City, and they've ALLOWED it to happen by pretending not to notice. That makes them legally culpable.

It looks to me like the State of Utah KNOWS they're in trouble, and they're trying to buy your goodwill by giving out state scholarships. Boy, if I were you, I'd make sure I also got a FULL college scholarship!!

My hopes and prayers are for your safety and happiness. I have read about the plight of the people of Colorado City, and I can only wish you good luck in your future endeavors. Please hang in there and be strong! I admire you very much for your strength and courage.

09/21 Cult Confrontations

I just want to make it clear that if she was in a "New Age" cult, then it is not really New Age. They may claim to be, but are not really. Just like on today's show when they were in a Christian cult, but that cult did not teach the true teachings of Christianity.

Again, I am sorry that you have lost contact with your daughter. I hope that she is doing okay and that someday you will meet again. And if she really is in a cult, I hope that someone can make her see that, and that there is more in life than that. Anyone who controls another is wrong.

Take care.

Elffie

Thank you Elffie for your concerns. I said New Age because going down the list of criteria my daughter was associated with each and every sign. I think a lot of cults want to intertwine what's in the Bible with their way of teaching. It sounds more legit that way. Yes, she told me about her paths to God. I do believe everybody's God may be different but for me I only know One and He died on the cross. My daughter's God was different. It can be very confusing and there's a lot I don't understand and would lose if in a debate. When this guy spoke of religion, it was in a different way. I'm not against anyone's religious preference but when it comes to ONE person dictating to another how to dress, what you eat, when to sleep, where to go, where to live, who to speak with and this One person erases your past life with family and friends..that's a cult to me and that's what happened to our daughter. She became bulmic to purify herself and make herself holy, she dressed like a transient, commented she was not materialistic, studied under Yogis and Channelers, gave her possessions away. The guy she is living with will keep her close at hand because SHE works 2 and 3 jobs (or did), SHE has the only transportation, SHE has the money. This guy has nothing. This is not a romantic relationship and yes everyone has the right to choose what kind of life they want to live for themselves IF they are capable of thinking for themselves. My daughter does what she is told. She says she is happy..she is happy because HE tells her she is happy. HE can control her no matter where he is. I am so at a loss. I have visited Rick Ross's website and he sent me an email to order and read one of his books on battered women. Anyway, there's got to be somebody who can help. I can't give up on her and I won't, I don't care how old she is. Thank you again for your concern. To my knowledge, she has no friends, she sees no one other than where she works. He has isolated her and does not allow her to contact us. We have no proof but a mom knows things and this is one of those things.

Hello... I hope your daughter returns home soon.

I have written to Dr Phil 3 times concerning my daughter's involvement in a one-on-one cult relationship but never received any kind of response. I know he is a very busy man as I am sure all of the staff is. My daughter is 28 and has been under this man's (age 40) spell for 10 years. In the beginning we thought she was going thru a phase and it would pass. She was 18 at the time, just out of HS and had some college. As the years went on, she began to withdraw more and more. Her behavior has escalated to a level that frightens us but we understand she doesn't really understand her abnormal behavior. We have been fortunate to see her once or twice a year in the past but that has stopped. We KNOW this guy controls her every move and feel strongly she has been supporting him financially. After doing some research we found a name to associate with what my daughter was into..New Age, Eastern Religion, UFOs, Buddhism, fairies, anti-government, anti-religion, reincarnation, chanting, auras and the list goes on. When she lived in Ashland OR, she took me to one of her "meditation/yoga groups" to meet Mafu (aka Penny Torres-Rubine) who supposedly was the 35,000 yr old Channeler. Currently, our daughter lives in a National Forest off a dirt road, which is off another dirt road that is off a main road. We have no communication with her at all. The most recent was May 2006 at which time she showed us just how far gone she was! I prefer not to get into all of it but we shared this with the "cult experts" and they felt like there may be some sexual abuse going on. We have contacted Private Investigators, 2 to be exact, so called "cult experts" but no help. I feel like my daughter died years about 9 years ago and I am still grieving her loss. I can relate to those parents who have lost their children but their bodies have not been found. There's no closure. The person we saw in May was not our daughter!! She was exhibiting strange behavior that raised a lot of red flags but because she was of legla age, we felt like she knew what she was doing, we didn't want to interfere because she was an adult. My husband and I are in our mid 50's and thought our lives would mellow out by now. Where we live now most people know zero about cults and their activities. I called around trying to find a psychologist, psychiatrist..anyone who might be of some help to us who could explain to us what was happening. Nothing. From reading what we could, we learned the term "brainwashed" is no longer used...it's now "thought reformed" and rescues aren't made in the middle of the night anymore... If ANYONE has any info as to how we can bring our only daughter back to us...her family PLEASE tell me. We don't have the $3000-$5000 that it would take to hire a Private Investigator to take pictures and watch her. They charge about $150 an hour which doesn't even include expenses, mileage or anything. Last known address we had for her was Boulder, CO in Roosevelt National Forest. A couple of weeks ago she contacted her grandmother and said she had moved to Las Vegas because she wasn't making enough money at the restaurant where she just started working in May 2006. We feel HE had her make that call. According to HIS adopted parents, he has not worked in years and NEVER paid taxes and they even hired a detective to find him without any success. My daughter lives HIS life not her own. We've been told HE probably has a narcissitic personality. My daughter did not even go to her grandfather's funeral when he died a few years ago. The "experts" say she probably did not have permission to go. We have also been told by the "experts" that what cult leaders normally do is erase childhood memories and make parents out to be the villains. which we found out later was the reason why our daughter kept making reference to her childhood and it being bad!! We are many miles away from where our daughter lives and yes we could drive there but then what? The "experts" say cult intervention is very costly and we don't know, at this point, what to do, who to turn to, where to go? I am told I need to read this book and that book to educate myself, which I have but that's not bringing our only daughter home. She is missing the opportunity to know who her brothers are and vice versa. Our family is so incomplete without her in it. I wake up at all hours of the night with her on my mind. I feel helpless to do anything more because I don't know WHAT to do? Can ANYONE help by providing contacts with people who are familiar with this? This happens to other people.......we can't believe WE are the "other" people!! Please help if you can! Thanks so much for any guidance you can share.

Sadly, there's lots of Religious Malpractice isn't there? Not sure if below will help you or not yet someone else asked about Rick Ross on here so decided to post to you too. It is the link after the contact Dr. Phil link below. Also, Dateline NBC and some of the other news magazine shows on network TV will take on cult stories occasionally to help persons who contact them. I hope you hear from Dr. Phil and although Dr. Phil doesn't have resources to help everyone I imagine would that he could. Dr. Phil is like an earth angel for he gets results and quickly usually. Best wishes come true to you and all of us. SEA